


A Killer's Serenade

by kesha



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: Cannibalism, Christy is Alana Bloom, Empathy Disorder, Link is Will Graham, M/M, Rhett is Hannibal Lecter, Slow Burn, Therapy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-04
Updated: 2016-09-04
Packaged: 2018-08-12 22:31:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7951693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kesha/pseuds/kesha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Link understood now why many people were eager to come to Dr. McLaughlin’s dinner party. Everything on the table looked like it had been prepared for the royal family. The foods were as exquisite as everything Link had ever seen of his doctor: his house, his suit that he was wearing tonight, his alcohol. Fresh and dry flower petals were used to decorate every plate. Some had fake (or were they real?) horns and antlers adorning them as well as various types of colorful fruits and vegetables, making all of them appear as masterpieces. Link suddenly felt unworthy of this meal.</p><p>This is a Hannibal (TV series) AU of Rhink, not a crossover!</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Killer's Serenade

**Author's Note:**

> I desperately needed a Hannibal AU!Rhink because both are my primary fandoms, so I attempted to write one. I hope this is not too bad because it was very challenging to write. Also, English is not my first language. This work is unbeta'd and is rated M for later chapters :)

Link hung his head, letting the water hit the back almost harshly and staring at his feet. He was dreading going to Dr. McLaughlin’s dinner party like a child dreading going to the dentist.

Dr. McLaughlin was his psychiatrist, although not an official one as there was no signing papers and no payment and such. Link had been “working” with Dr. McLaughlin for quite a few sessions now. He was set to have a conversation with Dr. McLaughlin in the doctor’s office about his mental health by his boss at Behavioral Science Unit, Jack Crawford, once a week because the symptoms of his empathy disorder were getting out of hand of late and it was disabling him from doing his job. The symptoms were disintegrating Link’s psyche and dissatisfying his boss greatly since Jack relied on Link’s ability to analyze crime scenes more than he relied on the evidence sometimes. They were also beginning to affect his physical wellbeing since Link began to experience night terror episodes, sleepwalking, and headaches, making Link unable to function on some days. Link had no choice but to do what Jack assigned him to do despite his distaste for doing therapy.

The reason for that was Link believed that he learned too much about clinical psychology and knew all of the tricks that they were going to use on him in therapy. He also disliked most psychiatrists. However, the way Link felt about Dr. McLaughlin was not like the way he did about the other psychiatrists. There was something off and unknown about the doctor, like a mystery. It challenged Link’s empathetic brain to try and figure out instinctively and failed.

Link still disliked the guy, though. He disliked every psychiatrist that he met through Jack. All of them except for one; Dr. White; or ‘Christy.’

Christy was the only psychiatrist who wasn’t trying to get inside his head all the time and that’s why Link liked her besides the fact that she was a beautiful woman with a strong personality and extremely smart. After having known each other for a few years, Link realized that he was crushing on her. He never attempted to make a first move, though, believing that he was not one to be in a relationship. He lived alone with his dog, Jade, and he told himself he was content with his current lifestyle and couldn’t picture it being any different than the way that it was now.

After standing in the shower and thinking about the dinner party that he agreed to attend for quite some time, Link turned off the shower and dried himself off as slowly as a zombie. He was not eager for this. He stepped out of the shower and thought about what to wear. The process of thinking and finding an outfit to wear to Dr. McLaughlin’s was stressful enough to make Link’s head hurt a little bit. He hated dressing up for formal occasions. Link had one suit jacket that he absolutely hated and thought about discarding. He swore to himself that this was going to be the last time that he agreed to attend such party.

In the end, Link went with his casual wear—white and red flannel and some black skinny jeans, then threw on his military green jacket to seem somewhat more formal but also to shield himself from the chill of the night.

During the drive to Dr. McLaughlin’s house, Link made sure to stop at a wine shop and purchased a bottle of red wine at a decent price as Link thought that it might be rude to show up empty-handed.

The place was already packed with people by the time Link arrived at Dr. McLaughlin’s mansion-like home. Everything looked grand and fancy from the outside to the inside. A staff that the doctor hired to service the guests opened the door for Link. As Link stepped into the party, he looked around and saw a lot of strangers. He scanned the room for familiar faces and found none. His doctor had to be in another room because Link would have spotted him by now as his doctor stood taller than anyone in this room.

Link decided to wade through the crowd and deeper into the house. He spotted Christy first from a far by her shiny blonde hair. She was chatting away with a stranger. Link thought about going up to her and say hi once they were done chatting, but Dr. McLaughlin found him first.

The moment the doctor spotted Link, he shot his newest guest a smile. He excused himself from the small group of people he was chatting with and walked over to Link to give him a proper greeting.

“Link, I am very glad that you came. Jack Crawford warned me that you might not join us tonight.”

Link huffed out a nervous laugh.

“I uh- I don’t think I would be good company,” Link confessed, trying to keep his tone balanced to conceal his nervousness and failed.

“I disagree,” the doctor smiled at Link. Link chuckled again then quickly changed the subject, “I, uh, brought this,” he raised the wine bottle and pushing it towards the taller man.

“Link, you shouldn’t have. Thank you. Let me hand this over to the staff and then I can show you where you may want to sit at the table. You arrived at just the precise time. Dinner is beginning in fifteen,” Dr. McLaughlin offered him the kindest of smiles, to which, Link only nodded his head in response and followed Dr. McLaughlin into his kitchen where chefs and staff were working their hardest to prepare the grand dinner.

***

After everybody was seated at their desired places on the table, Dr. McLaughlin stood proudly at his at the end of the ridiculously long table, receiving applauses from the guests. Link, too, clapped for him from where he was seated. He was 3-seat away from his doctor.

Link understood now why many people were eager to come to Dr. McLaughlin’s dinner party. Everything on the table looked like it had been prepared for the royal family. The foods were as exquisite as everything Link had ever seen of his doctor: his house, his suit that he was wearing tonight, his alcohol. Fresh and dry flower petals were used to decorate every plate. Some had fake (or were they real?) horns and antlers adorning them as well as various types of colorful fruits and vegetables, making all of them appear as masterpieces. Link suddenly felt unworthy of this meal.

Once the clapping faded, Dr. McLaughlin cleared his throat. “Folks, before we begin, you all must be warned,” he began the pre-meal speech, raising his glass.

“Nothing here… is vegetarian. Bon appétit.”

There was a wave of quick chuckles among the guests. Christy, too, chuckled with them, while Link maintained a straight face. He found the joke unfunny and everyone’s fake laughter was annoying him, so he picked up his utensils and started eating instead. Just a moment before he did so, Link scanned the table quickly with his eyes while everybody was still laughing at the humorless joke and paused when his gaze landed upon Dr. McLaughlin. The man was looking back at Link, but the cheerfulness and humor in his eyes were now gone.

Dr. McLaughlin’s gaze was cold, it sent chills down Link’s spine.

Link averted his eyes as quickly as he landed them on the doctor and began picking at the food immediately. He wasn’t sure what that was about. It might have been nothing. _Dr. McLaughlin’s gaze landed on me by accident. He was looking at his guests, wasn’t he?_ Link’s guts disagreed with him and churned, giving Link a hard time trying not to vomit in front of everybody. Luckily, he was seated next to Christy. Link turned to her and started chatting. Link felt at ease next to her. Talking to her calmed his anxiety and panicky brain and made Link manage to carry out looking sociable throughout the hours he was at the party.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> If you liked this, please leave kudos or a comment to let me know <3
> 
> You can reach me on [Twitter](http://twitter.com/hughdansy) or my R&L [Tumblr](http://rhettandtwink.tumblr.com/) :)


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